REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands softball team (23-4, 8-1) completed the three-game series sweep of Whittier College Saturday as they took game one 11-3 and game two 9-5.
Game 1: Redlands 11 – Whittier 3
The Bulldogs scored seven runs in the opening two innings and sealed the run-rule victory in the sixth with another three runs.
After the Poets made it 1-0 in the top of the first, Leila Gomez singled and scored Brooklyn Bard in the bottom half. Natalie Lowthers then made it 2-1 Redlands with a single through the right side.
Whittier tied it at two in the second before Avery Provenzano doubled home Adyson Kim, Natalie Lopez scored on a wild pitch, Provenzano also took advantage of a wild pitch, Katlyn Gandara flied out to right and allowed Bard to come home, and Lowthers capped the five-run inning with an RBI single back up the middle to make it 7-2.
Leading 8-3 in the sixth, Maya Holshoe drove in the eighth run on a ground out to first in the fourth inning, Lowthers added her third RBI, and Kim drove in the final two to end the game early, 11-3.
Lowthers was a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBI. Bard, Gomez, and Kim combined for another seven hits as the Bulldog offense pounded out 15 in total.
Starter Paige Ellinger went two innings before giving way to Caitlynn Griffith who threw the final four innings with no runs allowed and seven strikeouts for her fifth win.
Game 2: Redlands 9 – Whittier 0
Neither team scored in the first but with the help of four Poet errors and six hits, the Bulldogs pushed seven runs across the plate in the second.
Kim found grass out in right field and Scott scored. Then Provenzano made it 2-0 with a single through the right side as the Poet at second base was shaded up the middle so she was unable to make the play. An error allowed the third run to score before Gandara doubled in a pair and two more errors allowed Redlands to go in front, 7-0.
The Bulldogs got runs eight and nine in third on singles by Provenzano and Gomez.
Gandara went four shutout before Brianna Garcia shut it down in the fifth with a perfect frame.
Redlands begins a three-game series with the University of La Verne this Friday at home with first pitch at 3 p.m.
